Review: 64 Audio U18t (with lots of comparisons including Andromeda, Ara, og Solaris and more)

U18t build quality

I never write build quality segments in my reviews because it’s almost always fine and I’m not buying jewelry. But this iem deserves to be shamed and flogged in public for it’s build quality especially considering the price. This is a 3,000$ iem. I don’t care about bling stuff at all. But this iem is at best built like a 200$ iem. Even the casing of the iem is just kind of crude and ugly with huge logos which is really tacky IMO. The inlay on the outside looks cheap. And the casing itself is nothing compared to campfire iem’s. It all feels very cheap in comparison.

The cable is the worst I have ever seen on an iem. Im not sure which is better between this and my $10 Sony iem’s I use for white noise. Seriously. It’s coated in very cheap plastic that has a distinctive Fisher-Price quality to it. If this was Changstar I’d probably make a photoshop ad-buster with the Fisher-Price logo on the cable Y splitter or on the iem itself. But not going to spend the time. The $10 Brainwavz B400 cable feels significantly better. They sell this cable for $150 on their website which is $50 more than the Campfire Audio Smokey Litz - the best iem cable on the market and likely ever. It also has memory wire around the ear which is annoying and out of date with current trends. Once again this is a $3,000 iem. The upside of the memory wire and 2 pin connector is that the cable is stiff and doesn’t swivel so it actually helps keep them on which is necessary given the problems getting a proper seal as I explain below.

It also has a nozzle which is too long causing tips to slide down too far so the nozzle is flush with the opening of he tip. This could work but it means the end of the tip is filled with the nozzle and so it can’t compress to get a good seal. I had a hard time finding tips that worked even halfway decently. I settled on Azla Sedna Earfit (not light or short). This gives a decent seal with deep insertion.

EDIT: the following information in red is inaccurate I don’t know how I was misinformed. My apologies. These iem’s do not have a flat impedance curve.

U18t Output Impedance

Probably the coolest thing about the u18t is a “technology” that gives it a flat impedance curve so it’s FR doesn’t change between different sources nor does it require a certain source to sound as it was tuned to sound (like the Campfire Audio iem’s). The problem is that they didn’t frickin tune it right to take advantage of this! It’s got a dark downward sloping FR similar to the andromeda 2020. I use the same EQ settings on my Loki for both. This is kind of a travesty fir a $3k iem that’s supposed to be a reference and has this flat impedance curve. They should hire @zeed from Gaudio as their chief engineer and make a truly flat FR. Screw that though @zeed is doing great with Gaudio. Wouldn’t want to compromise that. I personally can’t wait to hear the next iteration of the Nair.

EDIT: the following sound evaluation was done with zero output impedance source which may not be ideal for these iem’s. I will be following up with impressions using higher output impedance. The comparisons below done with EQ are valid as I probably got them more neutral than 2ohms output impedance would and I was therefore evaluating technicalities since both iem’s being compared had been EQed to similar FR.

U18t Sound (no EQ and zero output impedance source)

Since the u18t was designed specifically not to be affected by output impedance I’m going to write a brief description of their sound with no EQ.

The u18t is really nothing special. I don’t understand why this iem hasn’t been shat into the ground by reviewers. So I’ll be the first. DO NOT BUY THIS IEM. It’s not absolute garbage but I think it’s worth about $50 because I prefer the EDC3 and B400 to the u18t and it’s 18 stupid f'ing drivers. I just went from u18t to B400 and I’m sticking with the B400 (with spinfit CP500 tips) and don’t want to go back.

The u18t has a bassy FR that slopes downward from there. There’s a serious lack of treble and midrange presence. Vocals are recessed and a bit dull but not god awful considering. Treble is dull snd is lifeless bordering on non existent. I can see someone without a clue thinking this is a nice warm presentation or something. It’s not. BA iem’s can’t be bassy because bass quality isn’t good enough. Not even in the Ara. Bass is boomy and completely devoid of detail or definition. They are decently resolving and there’s nothing horribly off about their tonality. They do a good job of not having BA timbre in the rest of the spectrum but then so does the EDC3 which is more neutral and clear sounding without EQ. Soundstage is nothing to write home about. It’s good but again the B400 has better soundstage. These are just decent very warm and shelved iem’s that are way over hyped and way way too expensive in every aspect of the iem from build to looks to ergonomics to sound.

The u18t comes with 2 different tuning plugs. The darker one is substantially better and makes the above description less extreme but still accurate.


Comparisons

These are done with EQ on everything. I used the Loki to EQ everything to as close to flat as possible. This allows comparing their technical abilities rather than simple differences in tuning/FR. However some differences are still apparent because the Loki isn’t super precise it can only correct broad problems not small problem spots or peaks.


U18t vs Andromeda 2020 (EQ)

• Not as resolving or ethereal as andromeda
• Duller sounding
• more congested
• Andromeda has far more clarity and resolution.
• Equal BA timbre in bass, more BA timbre in treble.
• Treble has typical plastic-y timbre the same thing that plagued the Nair (3 BA drivers not 18)
• Way worse ergonomics and fit than andromeda
• Oh God treble timbre is really awful coming from the andromeda’s awesome treble quality.
• Does nothing better than andromeda despite the 18 BA drivers

U18t vs. Ara (EQ)

• Ara has more clarity and resolution by quite a bit
• Slightly better bass but still has some BA timbre
• Better separation
• Better tonality esp in vocals
• Much better treble but not up to andromeda quality

andromeda vs Ara (EQ)

• Andromeda has better treble quality in timbre, extension and sense of air and realism- cymbals are cleaner and you can hear the texture of the metal better
• Ara treble is kind of etched sounding or cut short like it peaks a tiny bit and then drops in FR. Rougher in tonality than Andromeda 2020.
• They are sort of a draw technically and it will come down to which shortcomings you can better live with. The inferior treble of the Ara or the inferior bass of the andromeda.
• I much prefer the midrange of the andromeda 2020 (both EQed) it is much more transparent (in the way I described it above- opposite of opaque). It has a beautiful ethereal quality and sense of air and spaciousness in the midrange that is unparalleled by any iem I’ve heard except the og Solaris . The Ara’s midrange by comparison sounds much more dull and a bit recessed.
• The Ara succeeds in having less BA timbre than other iem’s. It has a smoothed over timbre compared to the andromeda. It reminds me of noise reduction in photography. It comes at the expense of resolution. The andromeda sounds faster snd hashes out more subtle details than the Ara due to the smoothing effect.
• Both ultimately have great clarity but the andromeda wins.
• The Ara seems to have a small bump in the upper midrange that is too small to fix with the Loki. The vocal range needs boosting with zero output impedance but this causes its peak/bump to get worse. The vocals in The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” are a bit piercing and harsh. If I lower the upper midrange on the Loki they become a bit recessed. So the vocal range isn’t as flat as I would like and with the andromeda it’s easy to EQ it flat because the FR is very even despite being shelved in the upper frequencies.
• The Ara sounds off to me while the andromeda sounds more natural.
• So the bass. One of the big selling points of the Ara. Yes it’s better than the andromeda’s bass but it is still BA bass. Still kind of soft and rubbery and lacking punch and definition. And also not great extension in my bass test tracks.
• TL;DR Ara has more dynamic like tonality at the expense of resolution. Has better bass than andromeda but inferior midrange and treble. I can see how the Ara would appeal to some but for an all BA iem I find the andromeda better in every way except slightly behind the Ara in bass quality. But that’s what my og Solaris is for.

Og Solaris vs everything else (EQ)

• This has become my favorite iem.
• It has almost equal transparency and clean treble to the andromeda
• Better tonality in the midrange to bass than any other iem listed here. I guess I just said the andromeda had the best midrange. They may be equal but different. Og Solaris has more realistic tonality due to the dynamic driver while the andromeda has that transparent ethereal quality to the midrange. In the end I think the og Solaris is more natural and realistic but I like both.
• Much more spacious with better instrument separation than all the others.
• Soundstage is huge and immersive. I think they come very close to full size headphones in their staging. Very impressive
• They have a “right-ness” to the sound. Coming from every other iem to the og Solaris I always think ahhhh that’s how it’s supposed to sound.
• Very coherent and even fr response (with Loki EQ). Better in this regard than all others.

UPDATE



I decided that if I was hearing the u18t wrong it was likely due to the tips not fitting correctly because of output impedance and the super long nozzle, allowing the tips to slide down to far, and not only making the nozzle opening flush with the end of the tip but also filling the end of the tip so it couldn’t compress to seal into the ear canal meaning I could only use one eartip with them, the rest just didn’t fit.

You can see in this picture where I’ve flipped the tip inside out so you can see how it fits on the nozzle, the nozzle is protruding way out of the blue area which is where the nozzle is supposed to reside.



So I came up with the idea to make a spacer on the nozzle by cutting off the tube part of another tip (one that was too small for me so I didn’t waste tips) and sliding this down the nozzle. Then the actual eartip I wanted to use would hit this spacer and wouldn’t slide down as far. The spacer didn’t wind up being long enough, the nozzle was still longer than properly designed iem’s. But it was the best I could do. I also realized that spinfit tips were also long tips (I used Azla Sedna Earfit tips before because they are some of the longest tips). So I used Spinfit CP145 tips.



I also used an “ear buddy” 2ohm output impedance adapter for all iem’s tested this round and turned the EQ off.

I’m not sure this is still a fair test because CA iem’s loose resolution and dynamics with the ieMatch adapters. And I don’t know about the u18t it might be better suited for this adapter. Also I’ve modded the U18t to have a better nozzle design.

All 4 of these iem’s are very neutral with the impedance adapter. They all had about the same FR. The U18t has a gorgeous upper midrange full of detail. But it’s treble suffers from some BA timbre and it has terrible BA bass that is boosted from neutral and quite bloated.


U18t Vs og Solaris with nozzle mod and 2ohm output impedance

• About equally resolving. The U18t might have the slight upper hand in resolution in the upper midrange but the og Solaris beats it everywhere else
• Og Solaris has better tonality.
• U18t has terrible bass. It’s still very boosted and bloated even with my tip mod snd 2ohm output impedance adapter
• Og Solaris bass is tight snd controlled with the same output impedance adapter
• Og Solaris is more spacious sounding.
• Soundstage is similar enough with the lead going to the og Solaris
• I enjoyed listening to the og Solaris quite a bit more

U18t Vs Andromeda 2020 with nozzle mod and 2ohm output impedance

• Andromeda is slightly more resolving especially in the lower midrange where the U18t starts to get bloated
• I did however hear more detail from the U18t on tracks with less lower midrange information so I believe the U18t may be more resolving in the upper midrange.
• Andromeda 2020 has much much better controlled bass
• Andromeda has much better treble tonality and FR. More neutral and extended. Beats the U18t by a wide margin
• Similar FR except for bass quantity - U18t has way moar
• Soundstage is similar

U18t Vs Ara with nozzle mod and 2ohm output impedance

• The Ara really shone with the impedance adapter.
• Equaled the U18t in upper midrange resolution and bests it at everything else except treble where they are about even, having different weaknesses which I’ve already explained in the previous comparison.
• Once again, the Ara has a unique smoothing effect in the tonality of other BA iem’s. Like noise reduction in photography. It maintains clarity but generally looses resolution. However it really improved with the adapter. I think the Ara needs high output impedance to shine.

No impedance adapter but with EQ AND U18t modded nozzle.

Surprisingly in this setup the U18t has good BA bass. Controlled, neutral and tight.

I’m going to keep this brief and subjective because I’m sick of this iem and all the controversy after putting so much energy into evaluating it before.

U18t Vs Ara with nozzle mod and EQ

• U18t is more resolving through the midrange
• Ara wins in every other way

U18t Vs og Solaris with nozzle mod and EQ

• Og Solaris is better in every way

U18t Vs Andromeda 2020 with nozzle mod and EQ

• Pretty similar but the win goes to the andromeda 2020. More resolving and much better treble

Conclusion

There’s absolutely no reason to spend the extra money on the weird U18t. No matter what your rig or setup, CA offers superior sounding iem’s that have a similar signature so should appeal to the same audience but the CA iem’s are designed and built better, don’t have design quirks that need mods to fix, are more attractive by far, are more comfortable, come with an infinitely better cable that is cheaper to replace, are more versatile with different upstream gear and don’t come with magical color changing moisture absorbing beads.

I do not recommend the U18t to anyone. See my comparisons and choose the CA iem that seems to best fit your needs.

• Ara if you detest BA timbre but want the speed and clarity and even, resonance free sound they offer.

• Andromeda 2020 if you like an ethereal stat like sound and prioritize treble quality over other things

• Og Solaris if you want something that combines the two above for a very well rounded iem or if your priorities are for best bass response while having a fairly neutral, even, resonance free sound.

Here’s a picture of what happens every time you pick up the U18t even if you coil it carefully. The Fisher-Price plastic cable really sticks to itself.

 

@rhythmdevils , the U18t doesn’t have the Linear Impedance tech. Only the U12t, Trio and the newer A18S have that tech. I bring that up because, U18t is one of the brightest IEMs out there and it’s bright/peaky treble and thin mids are my biggest woes with this IEM. Is it possible you are running it with a high impedance source that is skewing the response and killing the treble?

I am glad I am not the only one who finds the U18t fugly.

 

Just checked Loki’s OI and it is 75ohm, which might be causing a dip in the highs. I can’t say for sure, as I am not familiar with U18t’s Impedance curve, so unable to determine how it reacts to high OI. Do you happen have a portable music player or an amp with low OI on which you can try this on?

Edit: Please ignore this comment. I was under the impression Loki was basically a Magni with tone controls. I just realized it is a tone control device only and doesn’t have headphone out.

 

Hmm I swear I read that they were immune to output impedance before purchasing. This is the u18Tzar is that a different model? It looks the same as the U18t on 64 Audio’s website.

here’s the box



I used them with the what should be a very good rig for iem’s that are ok with close to 0 output impedance.

Pi2AES-> Metrum Amethyst-> Schiit Loki -> Drop 789

when I listened to them with no EQ I flipped the bypass switch on the Loki which should make it transparent.

I can’t imagine these being described as bright. They are similarly shelved to the Andromeda 2020 but with inferior technicalities.

 

Ok now you’ve made me take them out again and listen to these damn things again to test output impedance.

 

Lol, sorry about that man. I stand corrected about the source. From what I have read, the 789 seems to be an IEM friendly source. So I guess it’s just me then. Probably I am too sensitive to the treble peaks of the U18t that I find it quite bright.

U18t is just the short name for U18Tzar. You might have read about the Linear Impedance tech on either the U12t or the A18S page. A18S is a newer, slightly retuned version of the U18t with Linear Impedance tech and comes in custom form only.

 

@EagleWings no worries youre right damnit they sound more balanced with an ear buddy (higher output impedance adapter). But I’m comparing them to the andromeda 2020 on the same adapter with no EQ and the andromeda is still better in every way. Just imagine all the flowery language with the word “better” in front of the andromeda

I could have read about the output impedance equalizing tech on the ebay listing and it wasn’t correct I don’t know.

ok U18t with ear buddy vs EDC3 with no ear buddy coming up...

 

U18t with about 2ohm output impedance vs EDC3 with 0 output impedance.

Despite all my biases against this iem from my listening so far and the general vibe surrounding it, the u18t sounds better than the EDC3 in this configuration. They have a surprisingly similar sound signature but the u18t picks up a noticeably higher amount of information. The FR and tonality are so similar it’s like hitting a resolution button when switching to the u18t.

so I’ll need to correct or add to my comparisons of the EDC3 and B400 with the ear buddy in the mix. I’ll listen more and when I’ve had more sleep and update the thread.

so they may not quite be $100 iem’s if they are used with a high output impedance source. But all my impressions using EQ still stand snd those iem’s are less than half the price. TEAC beats TIA.

how much better than the EDC3 snd B400 is yet to be determined. Not $2,900 better but we all know audio doesn’t work like that.

 

It’s definitely an artifact. There are no peaks in this iem. I turned up the upper midrange and treble with the Loki (a better sounding alternative to an impedance adapter) and they still didn’t have any peaks. Just mediocrity.

agreed about everything else you said. Though honesty I would be ok with a plain looking 3k iem if it was made of quality sounding materials (ala CA or Gaudio). I don’t need bling at any price point. But the inlay on the face is just cheap snd shitty and looks bad. Advertising is for cheap shit. You would crap your pants at the cable.

I’ll send them to you if you want while Purrin gets settled.

 

They really just seemed to wanted to make a quick buck (aesthetic wise) and that cable looks like several of cables I got with my cheap chi-fi iems. How did they not feel embarrassed releasing this (since it sounds not great either)? It's really hard to understand (or not...€€).


I wish i would see more "crude" reviews like this one, without wanting to sound good or justify the price of a boutique item. Thanks for this @rhythmdevils.

 

you really have to feel the cable to believe how craptastic it is. Cheap plastic is something you actually can accurately detect from the feel of it. This has that .50 cent toy feel. I’m surprised there aren’t points and creases sticking out from the mold.

I honestly thought this was going to be a highly resolving really good sounding iem.

I’ll listen more with the impedance adapter maybe it will pull ahead of the good cheap iem’s. But it’s definitely a tier below the CA’s. Maybe the Sony M7 would be a good competitor.

 

I never really paid attention to 64 Audio since they seem to be too popular on HF. Lately if something is too hyped on HF I normally avoid it or don't pay attention to it too much. Also I thought for the longest time 64 Audio was 69 Audio.

I gotta admit, the stock cable looks something similar to my $109 Moondrop Starfield but a little nicer.

@rhythmdevils how the hell did you obtained these suckers?

 

I was first thinking where did my brother from my other mother got the $$$ for this? I was very concerned, legit concerned.

Then I saw your post and I felt much better. I'm game on calling out shit, but I can't do this one since well I haven't heard it yet.....

 

I may be a little guilty in putting these up for recommendation to OP. Although build quality wasn't part of that discussion, I agree that these aren't the best looking IEMs on the market, and using standard 2-pin at this price point has its issues.

That said, my experience echos the measurements from @shotgunshane . It's pretty much spot on neutral all the way until around 8k and is just that and pretty resolving. At this level, universals are going to be more dependent on tips than anything on the tuning side. To sidestep that problem I did order a pair of A18t's and I liked them, although I wouldn't buy them (or the universal version) for $3,000.

Gray market prices in China for these have long floated at the $1,600-1,800 mark which is IMO a fair price if you want something neutral with micro detail rivaling big cans. You could get the KSE1200 but then you have to deal with an amp that runs 5-7 hours on a good day.

To OP, I'd recommend trying on a few tips and in particular smaller ones if they feel bassy. When I had the U12t and the Tia Fourte I used dual flange spinfit's on both of them.

 

This is as important as highlighting good gear.

When I was starting everything had a good review. I didn't know what to try. Naming bad gear definitely reduces noise.